OM System OM-3

A camera that makes you fall in love with photography again

- James Artaius

There's a lot to say about the OM System OM-3, but the two most pertinent things are that it’s the PEN-F successor

Olympus fans have been waiting nearly a decade for, and also that this camera out-Fujifilms Fujifilm. The OM-3 has the flagship firepower of the OM-1 Mark II, with its cutting-edge computational photography. It has the handcrafted creativity of the Olympus PEN-F, with the ahead-of-its-time Creative Dial. And it has the iconic shape and silhouette of its namesake, the Olympus OM-3, with its timeless design by Yoshihisa Maitani.

It’s the PEN-F sequel we've been waiting for since 2016, and a camera that gives Fujifilm's finest a run for their money. Film simulations, computational photography, algorithmic autofocus... the OM-3 is a potent creative tool. Naysayers will decry the Micro Four Thirds sensor, but the OM-3 does things that no other camera is capable of.

Build and handling

The OM System OM-3 is a beautiful camera. The brand's other models, such as the OM System OM-5, have traditionally taken their design aesthetic from classic Olympus SLRs, but no camera has duplicated the lines and silhouette quite as faithfully as the OM-3.

Of course, adhering to the original Olympus OM-3 design means that there is no grip on the front, though there is a thumbrest on the back. However, I used the OM-3 without any discomfort and it never once came close to slipping out of my hands. I'd rather keep the flat face of the camera to maintain the aesthetics - as was the case with the PEN-F.